A Rapid Safe Technique for Repeated Blood Collection from Small Laboratory Animals. The Farmer's Wife Method ∗

Summary

Difficulties in obtaining adequate volumes of blood for serial analysis often restrict the design of experiments using small animals. The techniques of bleeding rats and mice from the tail and guinea pigs from the toenail can be improved by warming the animals. Prior warming in an incubator at 40-45°C and gentle handling allow repeated collection of generous quantities of blood quickly.